idraw(1)

NAME

idraw - drawing editor

SYNOPSIS

idraw [options] [file]

DESCRIPTION

Idraw is a drawing editor that lets you create and edit

drawings made up of graphics like text, lines, splines, rectan

gles, polygons, and ellipses. Drawings are stored in files that

can be printed on a PostScript printer. You can can open an ex

isting drawing when starting up idraw by typing a file name on

the command line.

Idraw displays a portrait or landscape view of an 8.5 by

11 inch page in its drawing area. In a column along the drawing

area's left side is a set of drawing tool icons, and above the

drawing area is a set of pull-down menus containing commands. A

panner in the lower left corner lets you pan and zoom the the

drawing area. Along the top is a set of indicators that display

editing information.

DRAWING TOOLS

You must engage a tool before you can use it. You engage

a tool by clicking on its icon or by typing the character below

and to the right of its icon. The icon of the drawing tool

that's engaged appears in inverted colors. Once engaged, you use

the tool by clicking the left mouse button in the drawing area.

The Select, Move, Scale, Stretch, Rotate, and Alter tools

manipulate existing graphics. Magnify makes a part of the view

expand to fill the entire view. Text, Line, Multiline, Open

Spline

graphics. Each tool works as follows:
Select Select a graphic, unselecting all others.

A graphic is selected if its handles are visible. Handles are

small inverse-video squares that either surround the graphic or

demarcate its important points (such as the endpoints of a line).

If you hold down the shift key, Select extends the selection: it

selects the unselected graphic (or unselects the selected graph

ic) you clicked on but does not unselect other selections.

Clicking anywhere other than on a graphic unselects everything;

you may also drag a rubberband rectangle around a group of graph

ics to select all of them at once. Shortcut: the right mouse

button invokes Select while the mouse is in the drawing area.

Move Move graphics from one spot to another.

Shortcut: the middle mouse button invokes Move while the mouse is

in the drawing area.

Scale Scale graphics about their centers.

Stretch Stretch graphics vertically or horizontally

while tying down the opposite edge.

Rotate Rotate graphics about their centers accord

ing to the angle between two radii: the one defined by the origi

nal clicking point and the one defined by the current dragging

point.

Alter Modify a graphic's structure. This tool's

effect is described below for each graphic.

Magnify Magnify a portion of the drawing specified

by sweeping out a rectangular area. Idraw will magnify the area

to occupy the entire screen, if possible.

Text Create some text. Left-click to position

the first line of text, and then type as much text as you want.

You may use emacs-style keystrokes to edit the text as well as

enter it. You can leave text editing mode by typing ESC or by

simply clicking somewhere else. The Alter tool lets you edit the

text in an existing text graphic.

Line Create a line. The shift key constrains

the line to lie on either the vertical or the horizontal axis.

You may left-click with the Alter tool on either endpoint of a

line to move the endpoint to a new location.

Multiline Create a set of connected lines. The shift

key constrains each segment to lie on either the vertical or the

horizontal axis. Each left-click starts a new segment (i.e.,

adds a vertex); each right-click removes the last vertex added.

The middle button finalizes the multiline. The Alter tool lets

you move, add, and remove vertices from an existing multiline.

Open Spline Create an open B-spline. The shift key

constrains each control point to lie on either the vertical or

the horizontal axis with the preceding point. Each left-click

adds a control point; each right-click removes the last control

point added. The middle button finalizes the spline. The Alter

tool lets you move, add, and remove control points from an exist

ing open spline.

Ellipse Create an ellipse. The shift key con

strains the ellipse to the shape of a circle. The Alter tool

does not affect ellipses.

Rectangle Create a rectangle. The shift key con

strains the rectangle to the shape of a square. The Alter tool

lets you move the rectangle's corners independently to form a

four-sided polygon.

Polygon Create a polygon. The shift key constrains

each side to lie on either the vertical or the horizontal axis.

Each left-click starts a new segment (i.e., adds a vertex); each

right-click removes the last vertex added. The middle button fi

nalizes the polygon. The Alter tool lets you move, add, and re

move vertices from an existing polygon.

Closed Spline Create a closed B-spline. The shift key

constrains each control point to lie on either the vertical or

the horizontal axis with the preceding point. Each left-click

adds a control point; each right-click removes the last control

point added. The middle button finalizes the spline. The Alter

tool lets you move, add, and remove control points from an exist

ing closed spline.

PULL-DOWN MENUS

The pull-down menus File, Edit, Structure, Font, Brush,

Pattern

contain commands for editing the drawing and for controlling
idraw's execution. The File menu contains the following commands
to operate on files:
New Destroy the current drawing and replace it

with an unnamed blank drawing.

Revert Reread the current drawing, destroying any

unsaved changes.

Open... Specify an existing drawing to edit through

a FileChooser(3I), which lets you browse the file system easily.

Save As... Save the current drawing in a file with a

specific name.

Save Save the current drawing in the file it

came from.

Print... Send a PostScript version of the drawing to

a printer or to a file. The bold rectangular outline (called the

page boundary) appearing in the drawing area indicates the por

tion of the drawing that will appear on the printed page.

Import Graphic...

Create a graphic from the information in a

file and insert it into the current drawing. Idraw can import

images from files in the following formats: TIFF; PostScript gen

erated by pgmtops, ppmtops, and idraw; X bitmap format; and

Unidraw format.

Quit Quit idraw.

The Edit menu contains the following commands for editing

graphics:

Undo Undo the last editing operation. Succes

sive Undo commands undo earlier and earlier editing operations.

Redo Redo the last editing operation. Succes

sive Redo commands redo later and later editing operations up to

the first operation undone by Undo. Undone operations that have

not been redone are lost as soon as a new operation is performed.

Cut Remove the selected graphics from the draw

ing and place them in a temporary storage area called the

clipboard.

Copy Copy the selected graphics into the clip

board.

Paste Paste copies of the graphics in the clip

board into the drawing. Together, Cut, Copy, and Paste let you

transfer graphics between drawings simply by cutting graphics out

of one view and pasting them into another.

Duplicate Duplicate the selected graphics and add the

copies to the drawing.

Delete Destroy the selected graphics.

Select All Select every graphic in the drawing.

Flip Horizontal, Flip Vertical

Flip the selected graphics into their mir

ror images along the horizontal or vertical axes.

90 Clockwise, 90 CounterCW

Rotate the selected graphics 90 degrees

clockwise or counterclockwise.

Precise Move..., Precise Scale..., Precise Rotate...

Move, scale, or rotate graphics by exact

amounts that you type in a dialog box. You can specify movements

in pixels, points, centimeters, or inches. Scalings are speci

fied in terms of magnification factors in the horizontal and ver

tical dimensions. Rotations are in degrees.

The Structure menu contains the following commands to mod

ify the structure of the drawing, that is, the order in which

graphics are drawn:

Group Nest the selected graphics in a newly cre

ated picture. A picture is just a graphic that contains other

graphics. Group allows you to build hierarchies of graphics.

Ungroup Dissolve any selected pictures.

Bring To Front Bring the selected graphics to the front of

the drawing so that they are drawn on top of (after) other graph

ics.

Send To Back Send the selected graphics to the back of

the drawing so that they are drawn behind (before) other graph

ics.

The Font menu contains a set of fonts in which to display

text. When you set the current font from the menu, you will also

set all the selected graphics' fonts to that font. A font indi

cator in the upper right corner displays the current font.

The Brush menu contains a set of brushes with which to

draw lines. When you set the current brush from the menu, you

will also set all the selected graphics' brushes to that brush.

The nonexistent brush draws invisible lines and non-outlined

graphics. The arrowhead brushes add arrowheads to either or both

ends of lines, multilines, and open splines. A brush indicator in

the upper left corner displays the current brush.

The Pattern menu contains a set of patterns with which to

fill graphics but not text. Text always appears solid, but you

can use a different color than black to get a halftoned shade.

When you set the current pattern from the menu, you will also set

all the selected graphics' patterns to that pattern. The nonex

istent pattern draws unfilled graphics, while the other patterns

draw graphics filled with a bitmap or a halftoned shade.

The FgColor and BgColor menus contains a set of colors

with which to draw graphics and text. When you set the current

foreground or background color from the FgColor or BgColor menu,

you will also set all the selected graphics' foreground or back

ground colors. The ``on'' bits in the bitmaps for dashed lines

and fill patterns appear in the foreground color while the

``off'' bits appear in the background color. A black and white

printer will print a halftoned shade of gray for any color other

than black or white. The brush, pattern, and font indicators all

reflect the current colors.

The Align menu contains commands to align graphics with

other graphics. The first graphic selected stays fixed while the

other graphics move in the order they were selected according to

the type of alignment chosen. The last Align command, Align to

Grid, aligns a key point on each selected graphic to the nearest

point on idraw's grid (see below). The View menu contains the following commands:

New View Create a duplicate idraw window containing

a second view of the current drawing. The second view may be

panned, zoomed, and edited independently of the first. Any num

ber of additional views may be made in this manner. Changes made

to a drawing through one view appear synchronously in all other

views of the same drawing. You may also view another drawing in

any idraw window via the Open command.

Close View Close the current idraw window. Closing

the last idraw window is equivalent to issuing a Quit command.

Normal Size Set the magnification to unity so the draw

ing appears at actual size.

Reduce to Fit Reduce the magnification until the drawing

fits entirely within the view.

Center Page Center the view over the center of the 8.5

by 11 inch page.

Orientation Toggle the drawing's orientation. If the

editor was formerly showing a portrait view of the drawing, it

will now show a landscape view of the drawing and vice versa.

Grid on/off Toggle idraw's grid on or off. When the

grid is on, idraw draws a grid of equally spaced points behind

the drawing.

Grid Spacing...

Change the grid spacing by specifying one

or two values in the units desired (pixels, points, centimeters,

or inches). If two values are given (separated by a space), the

first specifies the horizontal spacing and second the vertical

spacing. One value will specify equal horizontal and vertical

spacing.

Gravity on/off Toggle gravity on or off. Gravity con

strains tool operation to the grid, whether or not the grid is

visible.

X DEFAULTS

You can customize the number of undoable changes and the

font, brush, pattern, or color menus by setting resources in your

X defaults database. Each string of the form ``idraw.re

source:definition'' sets a resource. For example, to customize

any of the paint menus, set a resource given by the concatenation

of the menu's name and the entry's number (e.g., ``idraw.pat

tern8'') for each entry that you want to override. All menus use

the number 1 for the first entry.

You must set resources only for the entries that you want

to override, not all of them. If you want to add entries to the

menus, simply set resources for them. However, don't skip any

numbers after the end of the menu, because the menu will end at

the first undefined resource. To shorten a menu instead of ex

tending it, specify a blank string as the resource for the entry

following the last.

Idraw understands the following resources:

history Set the maximum number of undoable changes

(20 by default).

initialfont Specify the font that will be active on

startup. Supply a number that identifies the font by its posi

tion in the Font menu starting from 1 for the first entry.

fonti Define a custom font to use for the ith en

try in the Font menu. Give three strings separated by whites

pace. The first string defines the font's name, the second

string the corresponding print font, and the third string the

print size. For example, ``idraw.font3:8x13bold Courier-Bold

13'' defines the third font entry.

initialbrush Specify the brush that will be active on

startup. Give a number that identifies the brush by its position

in the Brush menu starting from 1 for the first entry.

brushi Define a custom brush to use for the ith

entry in the Brush menu. The definition requires two numbers: a

16-bit hexadecimal number to define the brush's line style (each

1 bit draws a dash and each 0 bit produces a gap), and a decimal

integer to define the brush's width in pixels. For example,

``idraw.brush2:ffff 1'' defines a single pixel wide solid line.

If the definition specifies only the string ``none'', then it de

fines the nonexistent brush.

initialpattern Specify the pattern that will be active on

startup. Give a number that identifies the pattern by its posi

tion in the Pattern menu starting from 1 for the first entry.

patterni Define a custom pattern to use for the ith

entry in the Pattern menu. You can specify the pattern from a

16x16 bitmap, a 8x8 bitmap, a 4x4 bitmap, a grayscale number, or

the string ``none''. You specify the 16x16 bitmap with sixteen

16-bit hexadecimal numbers, the 8x8 bitmap with eight 8-bit hex

adecimal numbers, the 4x4 bitmap with a single 16-bit hexadecimal

number, and the grayscale number with a single floating point

number. The floating point number must contain a period to dis

tinguish itself from the single hexadecimal number, and it must

lie between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 corresponds to a solid pattern

and 1.0 to a clear pattern. On the printer, the bitmap patterns

appear as bitmaps, the grayscale patterns appear as halftoned

shades, and the ``none'' patterns never obscure any underlying

graphics. For example, ``idraw.pattern8:8421'' defines a diago

nally hatched pattern.

initialfgcolor Specify the foreground color that will be

active on startup. Give a number that identifies the color by

its position in the FgColor menu starting from 1 for the first

entry.

fgcolori Define a custom color to use for the ith

entry in the FgColor menu. Give a string defining the name of

the color and optionally three decimal numbers between 0 and

65535 following the name to define the red, green, and blue com

ponents of the color's intensity. The intensities override the

name; that is, idraw will look the name up in a window system

database of common colors only if you omit the intensities. You

can define shades of gray by using equal proportions of each pri

mary color. For example, ``idraw.fgcolor8:Indigo 48896 0 65280''

defines a color that is a mixture of red and blue.

initialbgcolor Specify the background color that will be

active on startup. Give a number that identifies the color by

its position in the BgColor menu starting from 1 for the first

entry.

bgcolori Define a custom color to use for the ith

entry in the BgColor menu. The same rules apply to background

colors as to foreground colors.

SEE ALSO

drawtool(1)

idraw(1)